The good folks at Southwire in Carrollton, GA, will tell you it takes a lot of copper to make their product. It’s a pretty safe bet that most of you would say you purchase a lot of that copper wire product for the projects you complete daily.

Copper has been used in production from wiring, to piping and tubing, to roofing and gutters, cooking vents/pots/pans, to say nothing of being the chief source of our smallest unit of currency, until 1982 (virtually all pennies made since 1982 are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, some are 99.2% zinc with 0.8% copper core). The copper industry expects electric vehicles (EVs) to spur a nine-fold rise in copper demand by 2027!

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There is a substantial amount of copper in the windings and rotors of electric motors, to say nothing of the significant use of copper in EV’s batteries. The charging infrastructure, including modules and cells in battery packs, as well as buss bars that distribute the electric power, all require copper. A single car may have up to 3.7miles of copper! Copper has always played an important role in all energy production because it has the highest conductivity of any non-precious metal. It is 100% recyclable without loss of properties and is therefore a sustainable material. The next ten years will see a significant increase in the demand for EVs. Copper demand for EVs will likely increase from 185 thousand tons this year to 1.74 million tons in 2027. Never pass up a penny on the ground, it’s not just for good luck anymore.